demonstrations, pickets and protests

Bristol Solidarity Federation picketed a branch of giant employment agency and arch strike-breakers Adecco last week in solidarity with striking workers at the Asea Boveri Brown (ABB) factory in Cordoba, Spain. The strike was called in protest at ABB plans to make workers employed at the factory by subcontractors EULEN redundant and replace them with EUROCEN non-union labour with no experience or qualifications. EUROCEN is the logistics division of the ADECCO Group of companies. The dispute was fuelled by serious breaches of health and safety in the factory and by management's refusal to honour collective agreements. Adecco has been providing scab labour to try and break the strike.

In solidarity with the sacked workers of EULEN-ABB in Spain, London locals of SolFed like our comrades in Brighton, took the streets today with a picket in front of Adecco’s London Bridge office. After a strike going on since last November, the Spanish employment agency EULEN fired all of the workers in the local strike committee, for the benefit of its contractor ABB. A global agency firm Adecco, a majority owner of numerous other brands in the industry, moved in supplying temp workers to scab the site -An attack against workers rights and an initiation rite for ABBs new program of union busting and a contract with Adecco’s local branch, EUROCEN.

There was a great turnout for the short-notice picket of employment agency Adecco in Brighton today. Around 20 people stopped by, with picket numbers averaging 10-15 for the two hour picket. A division of Adecco has been hiring strike-breakers for the multinational corporation ABB and their contractor EULEN in Cordoba, Spain, where workers have been on indefiniate strike since November 28th. Around 400 copies of this leaflet were handed out. There were also pickets in Glasgow and London.

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Today saw two members of the North London Solidarity Federation join striking gallery assistants and members of the public at a picket line rally at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The strike, over budget cuts and staffing levels, was scheduled to last only two hours and was planned to cause disruption during the Gallery's busiest time.

SolFed members in particular made an effort to flier potential patrons, explain the issues behind the strike, and request they refrain from entering the museum for the duration of the strike. After spending some time at the Gallery itself, the strikers led a short march to the to the Da Vinci exhibition which was taking place next door.

ADECCO is the largest employment agency in the world. Beside profiting on precarity and casualisation, ADECCO and other employment agencies are fast becoming the go-to source for scabs and strikebreakers. Case in point: At the Asea Brown Boveri factory in Cordoba, Spain workers have struck over pay and conditions.

Besides sacking nine of the twelve members of the strike committee, ABB has now begun hiring scab labour from ADECCO. This disgusting behaviour must stop. Employment agencies have exploited us long enough. It's time for us to fight back. A win for workers at ABB, a giant multinational that operates in over 100 countries, will not only improve working conditions for Spanish workers, it will let employment agencies like ADECCO know that workers are willing to fight back against their unscrupulous practices.

Globally, ADECCO has over 5000 locations. In the UK, they own the Office Angels employment agency.

Merseyside police have brought a protest against City Council cuts, at the Town Hall, to a violent end by physically assaulting and arresting innocent protesters.

A number of Solfed members were present at the incident, and you can read full write-ups at the Truth, Reason & Liberty, magiczebras, JayoDoom, Working Class Self Organisation blogs and on Twitter. There is also a report from an Occupy Liverpool member, sympathetic to Solfed, here.

Today, PCS members in HM Revenue & Customs took strike action over the threat of privatisation. In Bootle, a member of Liverpool Solidarity Federation and PCS activist put the following statement - calling for a national week of action against privatisation - to an assembly of striking workers, where it was approved unanimously.

HM Revenue & Customs are engaging in a 12 month pilot with two private contractors, Sitel and Teleperformance, to handle calls alongside existing staff at contact centres in Bathgate and Lilyhall. The department claims that this is merely to look at ways they can address call backlogs during peak times. However, this is a transparent attack on the jobs, terms and conditions of PCS members.

The Ryanair Don't Care campaign, supported by Liverpool Solidarity Federation, is calling for an international week of action against exploitation and recruitment-scamming by Ryanair starting on March 12th 2012.

The Ryanair Don't Care Campaign was started by John Foley when his daughter was sacked as a flight attendant mid-flight and abandoned abroad, penniless. This would lead to the exposure of a cynical and highly exploitative recruitment scam by the airline.

In this video, John Foley shares some of the highlights of the last year of campaigning against Ryanair's exploitation of its employees. Liverpool Solidarity Federation continues to offer support to John and his direct action campaign. A member of Occupy Liverpool also explains why people at the camp support the campaign as well.

For background info on the Ryanair Don't Care Campaign, see here.

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Today saw the London Solidarity Federation hold a picket in support of a victimised Whole Foods worker. The action was held in conjunction with protests in Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Reno and San Francisco.

The demonstration had been called in defense of Natalia, a San Francisco Whole Foods worker who was sacked for speaking up in support of herself and her workmates and took place outside the Soho branch of Whole Foods in London.